'Edge of Tomorrow' review: Cruise keeps coming back for more

Updated 7:48 am, Friday, June 6, 2014

Photo: Courtesy Of Warner Bros. Enterta, Warner Bros.

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TOM CRUISE as Cage in Warner Bros. Pictures' and Village Roadshow Pictures' sci-fi thriller "EDGE OF TOMORROW," distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.

TOM CRUISE as Cage in Warner Bros. Pictures' and Village Roadshow Pictures' sci-fi thriller "EDGE OF TOMORROW," distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and in select territories by Village Roadshow

Emily Blunt is the tough and grim heroine of the special forces facing the alien invasion in the sci-fi fantasy directed by Doug Liman.

Emily Blunt is the tough and grim heroine of the special forces facing the alien invasion in the sci-fi fantasy directed by Doug Liman.

Photo: Courtesy Of Warner Bros. Picture, Warner Bros.

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TOM CRUISE as Cage in Warner Bros. Pictures' and Village Roadshow Pictures' sci-fi thriller "EDGE OF TOMORROW," distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures. less

TOM CRUISE as Cage in Warner Bros. Pictures' and Village Roadshow Pictures' sci-fi thriller "EDGE OF TOMORROW," distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and in select territories by Village Roadshow ... more

Photo: David James, Warner Bros.

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(L-r) TOM CRUISE as Cage and EMILY BLUNT as Rita in Warner Bros. Pictures' and Village Roadshow Pictures' sci-fi thriller "EDGE OF TOMORROW," distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures. less

(L-r) TOM CRUISE as Cage and EMILY BLUNT as Rita in Warner Bros. Pictures' and Village Roadshow Pictures' sci-fi thriller "EDGE OF TOMORROW," distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and in select ... more

Photo: David James, Warner Bros.

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(L-r) EMILY BLUNT as Rita and TOM CRUISE as Cage in Warner Bros. Pictures' and Village Roadshow Pictures' sci-fi thriller "EDGE OF TOMORROW," distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures. less

(L-r) EMILY BLUNT as Rita and TOM CRUISE as Cage in Warner Bros. Pictures' and Village Roadshow Pictures' sci-fi thriller "EDGE OF TOMORROW," distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and in select ... more

Photo: Courtesy Of Warner Bros. Picture, Warner Bros.

'Edge of Tomorrow' review: Cruise keeps coming back for more

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Edge of Tomorrow

The Earth is being invaded by space aliens, and only Tom Cruise stands between us and complete annihilation. Yes, we've been there before, but "Edge of Tomorrow" covers familiar ground with unexpected wit and economy, and the result is a thoroughly entertaining sci-fi fantasy.

The film is based on the Japanese novel "All You Need Is Kill," in which a young recruit dies in his first battle, but because of some twist in the system, he keeps coming back to relive his last 24 hours, increasing his survival skills with each return. Adapting the story for Cruise, the screenwriters devise a more compelling situation - and one with a touch of comedy: Cruise plays a spokesman for the military's public relations department, a middle-aged major with no combat experience who is forced to hit the beaches as part of a landing force.

As the film starts, the aliens occupy most of Europe, and an implacable Irish general (Brendan Gleeson) is planning a make-or-break D-Day type invasion for the following day. Cruise, as the confident, telegenic major, is talking breezily, and on seemingly equal terms with the general, when he finds out that he is being embedded with the first wave of troops.

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It's the kind of comic scene made for Cruise. Struggling to stay on his game, he tries charming the general, making jokes, flashing his big smile - while the general looks at him as if he's a worm. As a last resort, he tries threats and ends up demoted to private and put on the front line.

Director Doug Liman lavishes time on these early scenes, and they're crucial in the way they ground the movie in its world and establish a bond between audience and protagonist. The major starts off as the viewer's surrogate, an entirely sympathetic spectator to horror. We're with him for the beach landing, which isn't by boat but by airplane, with the soldiers jumping out of the bottom, wearing armor and suspended by cords. It's the familiar terror and chaos, augmented by futuristic technology.

By getting killed and coming back, over and over, the major soon grasps two things: First, the aliens wanted the invasion and had an ambush ready, and second, his ability to come back, again and again, might be the only edge humanity has in this war. This leads to a collaboration with the heroine of the special forces, played by a tough and grim Emily Blunt.

Though the time is constantly resetting, "Edge of Tomorrow" consistently has a feeling of forward motion, even momentum, and the filmmakers always keep things clear so that viewers always know exactly where they are in the story. In a way, the film schools us in how to watch it, so that, at our most advanced, we can catch on as to whether a scene is of the characters doing something for the first time, or the 20th.

The gimmicks of repetition and time travel make for comic opportunities, which the movie exploits without losing the serious thread. Likewise, as the major grows in knowledge and becomes someone who knows about the fates of others, there are poignant moments as well. All these are harmonized nicely into one flow and one vision by the director.

Though Liman is best known for action movies ("Mr. and Mrs. Smith," "The Bourne Identity"), he started his career with edgy comedies, such as "Swingers" and "Go." You can see some of that acerbic comic touch in the performances of Bill Paxton, whose Master Sergeant has a hint of surreal mania, and Gleeson, whose deadpan as the commanding general is equally funny and alarming. We come to see them as the major sees them, as exaggerated figures, stuck in the illusion of time.

Cruise is a delight, exactly what he needs to be, fluid enough for comedy, physical enough for action, always going with the flow and yet finding ways to make moments memorable. Like Clark Gable a few generations ago, Cruise has maintained his stardom for three decades now, rarely ever making a great movie, but rarely making a bomb. At a certain point, all these pretty good, good and very good movies can't be a coincidence.

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